What exactly is dry cooling?

What exactly is dry cooling?

Dry cooling removes heat from a system by rejecting heat with ambient air. The lack of water and the necessity for water treatment minimises the amount of maintenance required for this type of cooling system. Dry cooling can be utilised for closed-circuit fluid cooling as well as steam condensing. To learn more about Vrcooler's Dry Cooling technology, please contact your local Vrcooler representative or contact us directly.

Dry cooling is commonly employed in power generation as a way of reducing steam condensing using an Air Cooled Condenser (ACC). Steam exhausts under hoover from the exit of a steam turbine into a network of spherical ducts that deliver the steam to the ACC in this operation. The ACC conducts the steam through a series of finned tubes, where ambient air is blown over the fins, causing saturated steam to condense. In summary, the ACC is made up of ducting (to convey the steam), heat exchanger cores (finned tube bundles) to assist heat transfer, mechanical equipment (fans, motors, and gearboxes) to provide airflow, and piping/tanks to collect the condensed steam. These items are highlighted in the diagram below:

When water is scarce or prohibitively expensive, an Air Cooled Condenser can be used in place of a surface condenser and cooling tower system. Please contact Vrcooler if you are investigating an ACC for a hoover steam condensing application so that we may begin custom engineering a solution for your project.

Use in Closed Circuit Fluid Cooling

The importance of air movement and surface area in maximising the effect of dry cooling cannot be overstated. By passing process fluid over a series of highly conductive aluminium fins, Vrcooler improves the transmission of energy. Heat is swiftly removed from the system and discharged to the atmosphere by constantly drawing huge amounts of air through the fins.

We are happy to offer these units as part of our global mission to provide sustainable goods and services to the cooling sector. Vrcooler provides many variants intended specifically to work in 100% dry cooling mode as either closed circuit coolers or condensers.